Eight, Not Six
by Assonant
Summary: David was the new boy in town, but Marco wasn't the first person he met. He met someone else whose life was changed by the Yeerks, someone who had suffered because of them and never knew it. And that someone was Melissa Chapman.
1. Chapter 1

**1.**

My name is Melissa.

I'm no one special. The daughter of the vice principal of our school, and I take gymnastics.

Everyone thinks I'm good at it, more so because I'm small and thin, even though I don't starve myself like some fools who want to get into gymnastics. I have pale gray eyes and pale blonde hair and pale skin. Some people think it makes me look pretty.

I think it makes me look like an elf or something.

Right now though, I was dealing with my father, the Vice Principal, who was showing off to our new student. "And this is my daughter Melissa. She is going to show you around."

I gave my father a look. My parents don't really notice me much anymore. They set up rules and more rules and if I step out of line or break them, so many of them, I'm grounded. Otherwise, they're so busy with school and the Sharing that it's like I don't exist.

The Sharing is some weird community group thing. I tried to get into it, for my parents, but they didn't even act like I was there most times. They didn't even ask me to be a full member. They just ignored me, even there.

"Melissa, this is David," my father said, not even looking at me as he spoke. "His family just moved here. Try to make him feel welcome."

I looked at David. He was a little taller than me, but I wasn't surprised. Most people are. He had blond hair and brown eyes and a look on his face like maybe he had an attitude, a swagger. Confidence, like he could take the world on.

"Hi," I said quietly. I was nervous, not because he was new, but because my father was there. I wanted to have him look at me, acknowledge me, care like he used to.

He just nodded and left. David and I watched after him for a bit and he said, "... Some dad."

I looked down and just nodded.

Maybe he realized he hit a nerve because he said, "I mean, um... sorry... Shouldn't have said it, he's still your dad, even if he's the Vice Principal and all that." He looked at me, warm brown eyes boring into mine, before giving such a wacky grin that I couldn't help but giggle. "Do you forgive me? Please say you do, I don't want to get the first person I met to be angry at me."

"It's fine," I said, giving him a smile. It felt weird. I hadn't really smiled in a while. I guess that since David was new, he didn't hear all the rumors and gossip about anything yet. Some people thought I was stuck up because I was the Vice Principal's daughter, a good student and good at gymnastics and well... it felt good to know that someone really didn't care about that. "Most people are too worried about that. I don't mind though. Come on, let me show you around."

He smiled and we walked. It was before homeroom so I showed him where his locker was and watched him put things into it.

"That's a pretty blue box," I said, seeing it. "Did you make it?"

He shook his head, "No, I found it in that construction site over across from the mall. In a hole in a wall. Inside the cement block. Like it had been put in there or something."

"Weird," I said peering at it. "Hey, it has some writing on it."

David nodded, "Yeah, but I don't know the language. I tried looking it up."

It looked almost artistic and I tilted my head, "Maybe it's a code?"

He looked surprised, "I didn't think of that. Why though?"

"I don't know," I said, thinking. "Someone put it there though, right?"

"Think it's worth anything?" His eyes lit up at the prospect.

"If it is, you can buy lunch," I said, making him grin. "And a toy for Fluffer McKitty."

"Fluffer McKitty?" David repeated, closing the door to his locker and carrying his stuff.

"My cat."

"His name is Fluffer McKitty?" David looked incredulous.

"I thought it was cute!" I protested, making him laugh. "And what, you'd name him something better?"

"Yeah," David said. "My cat's named Megadeth."

"You named your cat Megadeth," I repeated before I began to tease him, "Not Aerosmith or Led Zepplin?"

He made a face at that, "I'll stick with Megadeth. It's better than other names like... Fluffer McKitty."

"Hey!" I protested, making him laugh.

"I've got a cobra too."

"A cobra?" I blinked. "But aren't they..."

"Illegal? Sorta, yeah. You're not supposed to be able to own them, but my dad got it for me. He goes overseas a lot. He's a spy. But don't tell anyone."

"... Your dad gets you a cobra and mine can give out detentions. Where did I go wrong?"

Before we could say anything else, someone shouted, "Yo!"

We looked over. The person who had called out, I recognized. I didn't really know him though, he was friends with Jake. I only really knew Jake because of Rachel, they were cousins.

Rachel was my oldest friend and I guess you could say I'm one of her best friends. Well, you used to be able to say that. She seemed to be closer to Cassie these days.

I didn't mind, in a way. It made it easier if nobody noticed things, nobody would ask awkward questions.

Marco, I then noticed, looked pretty distracted and worried. Was he okay?

"Hi Marco," I said as he came over. "This is David, he's new. I'm showing him around. David, this is Marco, Marco this is David."

"Um, hi Melissa. Hi David. My name is Marco."

David gave him a look that practically shouted 'This guy is an idiot.' "Melissa just said that." He looked at me and I blushed a bit. I couldn't help it. Most people were nervous around me or overly nice to try and make me put in a good word with my dad.

"Marco's sort of the class cl-" I began, but Marco interrupted.

"What's that blue thing?"

David gave Marco another irked look, "I don't know. I found it."

What made me touch his shoulder, I don't know, but the irritation seemed to lessen when he glanced back my way.

BRRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!

The bell made Marco leap a foot in the air and we both stared at him.

"Oh, ummm... can I have it? I mean, it looks cool and all. I could pay you ..." He began turning his pockets inside-out. Lint balls ... a very old peppermint Life Saver. . . "I could pay you a dollar and thirty-two cents," He offered lamely, holding out the bill, the coins, and the Life Saver.

David looked at him and at me, with a look of such utter disbelief that it was obvious he thought Marco was an idiot. I chuckled, "I think it might be worth a little more than that, Marco. It's obvious a lot of detail work went into it. And just labor of finding it is a little more than that."

"Uh... um..." Marco stammered.

"We'd better go," I said, looking between the two of them. "Don't want to be late. See you later."

"Y-Yeah, thanks Melissa," Marco said, still looking between the two of us. "Nice meeting you, David." He said it as an after thought.

"And even nicer getting away," David muttered, turning and walking.

Marco looked a mixture of irritated and worried. I looked at him, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," he said darkly. "I have to find Jake." He left.

I looked around the crowded hallway, full of people going back and forth, talking and laughing. How was it that even in a crowded school I felt alone? I wasn't even new like David was.

Sighing, I walked up to my homeroom. I looked around. Rachel was talking to Cassie, not even paying me attention. I just took out the book I was reading and was about to start reading when a voice said, "So we share the same homeroom?"

I looked over and smiled. It was David. "Hey," I said, giving him a smile.

"Sorry I left so fast," David said, shrugging. "That guy rubbed me the wrong way."

"Marco's just... he's the class clown," I offered, shrugging.

"Do you like him?" David asked, giving me a strange look.

That was a personal question to ask someone you just met, but it wasn't like I had anything to hide. I shook my head, "No. He's funny but not my type." I indicated David's textbooks, "I think we'll have a lot of the same classes."

"Good to know," David said, looking suddenly very tired.

I looked at him, quiet. If he wanted to tell me what was on his mind, he would.

I hoped he would. I missed having someone to talk to, really talk to. And this new kid... he might not have an opinion about me because of my family or grades or anything. He was new.

David was silent for a bit before he said, in a tough voice, "I'm not an idiot, you know. I can tell what people think about me. My family moves every couple of years whenever my dad gets transferred. I'm always the new kid in school. So I've gotten good at telling what people think of me. And now, here I am in this different school. And I'm the new kid." He shrugged, "That kid, Marco? He didn't like me."

_I like you. _I almost said it, but I didn't. I didn't want him to scoff at me or anything, say I didn't know anything about him.

He looked at me, straight into my eyes, "But you... I think you would've helped me even if your father didn't ask. I think you want to like me." He smiled at me.

And I couldn't help but smile back at him as I said, "Yeah, I-"

BRRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!

We both rolled our eyes at the bell and the school day started.


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

The next day was another boring normal school day. You know the routine: get up way too early, shower, dress, get a ride to school, and go into homeroom.

I was in there early, reading, when David came in. He looked... troubled, irritated and confused until he saw me. "Hey Melissa," he greeted, sitting next to me. The classroom was empty, and I had my hood on and up. Whoever thinks leaving windows open in this place really needs a head exam or something because it's _cold!_ I wasn't the only one up early, it seemed. There was a bird outside, relaxing in the tree, a hawk of some kind.

I turned my attention away from the hawk and back to David.

"Morning," I said, giving him a smile. "How are you?"

He looked as if he wanted to say 'fine,' but he said, shaking his head, "Something really weird happened to me yesterday. Very weird."

I was worried, "Is everything okay?"

"Remember that blue box I showed you yesterday?"

"The pretty blue one, the one with the odd cipher thing?" I asked, remembering it. It had been interesting.

David nodded and leaned towards me, "Last night someone tried to steal it. And you'll never guess how they did it. Trained birds."

"_Birds?"_ I stared at him, confused. "How?"

"Two birds flew in my bedroom window and tried to get away with the box. Fortunately Megadeth went after one." He smiled "I just wish my snake had been out of his box. Even though his venom's taken out, I bet it would have scared those birds."

"But they're _birds,"_ I said, shaking my head. "How do you know they were trained? Maybe it attracted them for some reason?"

David shook his head, "I know for sure they weren't ordinary birds. One of them opened a sliding glass door. It was an eagle, I think."

"An eagle?" I had seen one around my house sometimes, a beautiful bald eagle. Some days I wished I could fly away with it. "Why would anyone want to steal that blue box? And why use _birds?_ I mean, if you have that much money, just hiring someone to take it makes more sense."

He nodded his head. "That's what I was thinking, but I don't know why they didn't do it."

"Still," I mused. "Burglar birds..."

David sighed. "It sounds insane, I know."

"So insane that I know you're telling me the truth," I said quietly, making him look steadily at me once more. "But if one's an eagle... I don't get it. It makes no sense. If you have that kind of money..." I drummed my fingers, thinking. "Maybe... they used birds, maybe that thing is part of an experiment? You did find it, right? What if those birds were trained to take it?"

He followed my train of thought instantly, "Someone knows what the box is and wants it back. So it does have some kind of value." He grinned, "Glad you agree. After that, I thought it'd be smart to get it out so that my folks don't freak out. So I'm going to try and sell it."

"Where at?" I asked, thinking. "I don't think a place that has enough finances to train birds like that will go anywhere we do. And the only places I can think of that might sell that are maybe art places..."

David chuckled, "Oh that's so low tech. I posted a 'for sale' notice on a couple Web pages last night after all this went down. I described it. And I described those symbols, the ones that look like foreign writing? This morning before school I checked, and there was already an answer. Some guy says he wants to see it. He says he'll pay good money. Says he'll go anywhere, anytime."

I thought for a few seconds before shaking my head, "Good money and he doesn't know anything about you? Doesn't know if you're lying online or something. Going _anywhere_ at any time?" I made a face, "Sounds too good to be true, you know?"

He hesitated for a second before slowly nodding, "I didn't think of that. I was going to ask you to come as my backup in case he tries to rip me off."

"You didn't give this guy your address, did you?"

David smirked. "I'm not a moron. The guy could just rip me off while I'm stuck here at school." He shook his head and gave me a sly leer. "I set it up on a timer so the e-mail with my address won't go out till right before I get home."

"It's on automatic?" I said, giving him a look. "After what we just said?" I shook my head, "And yes, you _did_ give him your address." I bet my disapproval was obvious on my face.

He nodded, sighing. "I was thinking I could send the e-mail, the guy comes over, and I give you ten percent for helping me out."

"Ten? When I pointed out the flaws in your cunning plan?" I mused for a few seconds, "A quarter of it."

David made a face but sighed, "Fine, but we have to cut last period."

I shook my head, "My father."

Another face, a pouting one.

I smiled, "How about instead of a quarter I take fifteen percent and you stick the whole day out."

"And the guy?"

"Send another e-mail from our computer lab at the end of the day saying you'll be later than you thought. I'll tell my dad I'm going out with a friend after school and I'll see him home." I thought about it, "Actually, that might be better, tell the guy to meet you another day at somewhere like the mall. You know, so that there's more people around in case it's some crazy person."

"All right," David said, sighing. He looked irritated, but I had a feeling it was because he hadn't thought of that.

"Hey, calm down, you're under a lot of stress," I said, making him look up.

"That obvious?"

"You just moved here, so not only are you still adjusting but then you get terrorized by some weird birds and everything plus you have a shot at actually getting some decent cash? Nobody would think straight with all of that."

The day basically went normally, my father just nodded, waving me off when I said I was going to hang out with a friend. I met up with David who sent another email saying what I said, and told me where he lived. But since we had missed the school bus, he had no clue how to get there.

Fortunately, I did. It would be easier for me to show him a few of the sights around so he could pick a meeting spot.

I led the way to a bus stop and when we reached the stop closest to his house, we walked, my hood up once more. It was cold out, at least to me, but I felt a little warmer with my hood up.

"What the..." I said, staring.

David stared too.

There was something _weird_ going on. A house was completely trashed, ruined, and there were... _things._..

David shouted a curse and began to run.

"What are you doing?" I yelped, grabbing his arm.

"That's my house!"

My eyes widened and we both ignored our common sense instincts, running _towards_ the commotion.

_RRRRROOOOOOOOOWWWWWRRRR!_

"Is that a lion roaring?" David exclaimed, confused.

"How would I know? I came with you, remember?" I demanded, running.

The next thing we knew, we reached the now hollow shell of a house. Carnage and havoc with creatures and animals was going on and I could hear what sounded like a gun. Before I could voice my confusion once more, I heard David.

"Oh my God," David said, his voice shaking. I turned to see what he was looking at and almost fainted. We were looking into what had once been the second floor of his house.

There was some kind of odd creature. It was as purple as Barney the Dinosaur but it was not cute. And it didn't look to me like an animal that would sing "I love you, you love me." This purple monster did not have a happy family.

It had massive shoulders. Massive enough to make the grizzly bear's shoulders look puny. It stood on two widely separated feet, each with four thick toes as big around as my thighs. Its face ... if you could call it a face . . . was in the center of its upper body, so it couldn't turn and look behind itself, only straight forward. Two big eyes blinked from where a guy's chest would be.

Definitely weird.

As I watched in horror, the mouth grew, splitting open, a red-rimmed gash across the creature's belly. Serrated teeth and a tongue that lolled out almost like a snake tongue and from the shoulders grew four arms, two on each side. The arms started off smooth and muscular at the shoulder. But they became increasingly wrinkly as they went down toward the place where the hands should be. And instead of hands there were bony, deep, deep red points.

They looked like... I don't know, like really sharp traffic cones. You know those things they put up on the highway to divert traffic? That's what they looked like: sharp cones on the end of the four arms.

"What the... what _is_ that?" I asked, not realizing I had taken David's hand. I was petrified.

He clutched my hand like a lifeline.

Good to know I wasn't the only one that was scared.

It's called a Dule Fansa, a rather fanciful name, don't you think? Would you like to see what it can do?

David and I shared looks of horror. Had that thing heard me all the way out here? Except we hadn't heard anything but we _had_...

"What was that?" David asked, looking around frantically. "I... I definitely..."

"I heard something," I agreed, looking around too. "But... but it wasn't a _sound..._"

That thing, that Dule Fansa, aimed one traffic cone hand and... destroyed the last wall to a room on that former second floor.

Now, let's make this simple. l want the blue box. I will have the blue box. Or all of you will die.

"Why are they even _here?_" David said, freaking out. "What is going on here?"

I'm not a patient Yeerk. I'll have the blue box. And I'll destroy you all. But if I get the blue box now, I may decide to destroy you some other time.

"What the hell?" I demanded. "First it's a Dule Fansa, now it's a Yeerk?"

"What _is_ a Yeerk?" David asked.

"No idea," I answered.

He jumped and looked around, confused. "Did... did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That thing knew my name! It sounded a little different but it was just like that thing!"

Brave Andalites, he mocked. You'll let me kill these humans rather than give up the box?

"But I just heard that one!" I said, confused.

"I did too, but it wasn't that... that voice, it said it was on my side-"

"Gashwa! Human children!" A weird Tyrannosaurus Rex thing roared, pointing at David and me.

A man appeared from the second floor. "David!"

"_DAD!"_ David shouted. I had never known anyone's voice to sound that way.

Two of the T-Rex things had David's father by the arms. He was yelling. He was crying his son's name, over and over. "David! David! David!"

The next thing I heard was a roar. I saw a wall of brown bum rushing me and everything went black. How long I was out for, I can't really tell you, but when I groaned, there was a hand to help me.

"It's okay, Melissa," a familiar voice said.

_Rachel_?

"Yeah, it's me," she said, surprising me. I slowly opened my eyes to see her.

"Rach..." I trailed off, seeing her before my brain caught up with me. I turned, vaguely seeing other people, but David was lying next to me. He moaned and moved his head. His eyes fluttered open.

"Who are you?" he asked, blinking up at Jake, then looking around like I did. He turned back suddenly, until he saw me. "Are you-"

"I'm okay," I said, realizing I was shaking. I looked around now. I recognized mostly everyone there. "Um... what... what happened? Did all of you guys see that?"

David looked around too and back at me. "You know them?"

"I think..." I thought for a few moments, "That's Rachel, Cassie, you met Marco, that's Jake and..." I looked at the oddly pretty boy with them. He was vaguely familiar, but I didn't want to presume anything. "I think that's Jake's cousin..."

"You guys saw what happened, didn't you?" David demanded.

They shared looks and looked back at us.

"I think we need to move somewhere a bit more private for all of this," Jake said with a sigh.

David and I shared looks.

"The stuff we're going to tell you is going to totally change your world," Jake said, looking at both of us.


	3. Chapter 3

**3.**

"They are called Yeerks," Jake said.

We were in Cassie's barn, among the caged, wounded animals. Amidst the smells of hay, medicine, and animal poop.

I had been here once before, with Rachel. Cassie had been helping her parents cure animals and Rachel had been determined to drag her out with us. Rachel had won and dragged both of us to the mall.

How long ago had that been?

Had they both been doing this and just needed an alibi that day?

David was sitting on a bale of hay, rubbing his jaw. I was next to him while the others stood around us. Rachel wouldn't really meet my eyes. She kept looking away, at the ground, at David or one of the others, but not me.

"They are a parasitic race from another planet. They are not much more than gray slugs, really. But they enter your brain and reduce you to slavery. Those big, seven-foot-tall creatures that were in the house? Those are Hork-Bajir. They have Yeerks in their brains. An entire species already enslaved by the Yeerks."

"And now they're after the human race," Cassie said. "There are thousands of humans who've been made into Controllers. That's what you call a creature who's controlled by a Yeerk."

"My brother is one," Jake said.

Rachel finally looked at me, and I noticed that she was trying very, very hard to not show emotions. "So are your parents, Melissa," she said quietly.

Very quietly and full of pain and grief. I hadn't seen her like this, so confused and scared and pained since... since her parents had been getting a divorce. Things had been different then, my parents hadn't been so cold and distant. They had allowed me to have friends home, had done things like normal families did. Before the Sharing and everything changed. Rachel would come to my house to get away from the arguing and shouting in hers, bringing her sisters sometimes.

My parents had joked that they had four children, but the house had been full of noise and laughter and the smell of barbecue.

And the pain of my best friend as we'd sit in my room and I would listen and hold her and wonder why things like this happened to good people like Rachel.

That look made me know that this wasn't a joke. This wasn't a lie. As insane as this all sounded, this wasn't a joke or something for television.

They were serious.

"And by now, David, so are your mother and your father," Marco said.

Cassie shot him an angry, disapproving look. Jake obviously agreed with her. Marco shrugged. "He needs to know what's happening," I said. "He needs to know this isn't just some game."

"What about my mom and dad?" David asked him directly.

He sighed. "Look, it's all about that blue box you found. The Yeerks want it. The guy who turned into the big purple pile driver? That's Visser Three. He's the leader of the Yeerks here on Earth. He's running the invasion, okay? As you may have noticed, he wants the box. And he allowed your father, and your mom, too, I guess, to see the truth. To see him. And that's a no-no. The Yeerks don't want people knowing what's happening, not yet. So he's going to keep your mom and dad quiet. Plus, he's going to find out what they know about the box."

David shook his head, not understanding. "Are you saying he'll torture them or something?"

"Man," Marco muttered before he walked over and stood right in front of David. "Listen to me. By now your parents have been taken to a secret, underground facility called a Yeerk pool. It's not a nice place. Picture a sludgy cesspool of a pond the color of molten lead. There are two steel piers leading out over the pond. Hork-Bajir warriors will drag your parents out to the end of one of those piers. They will -"

"Marco!" Cassie said angrily.

"They will drag them out to the end of that pier and they will kick their legs out from under them and force their heads down into the sludge. And while they are kicking and screaming and calling for help, a Yeerk slug will swim over and it will squeeze into one ear. And it will flatten itself out and squeeze and burrow and dig its way into their skulls, where it will spread around and into their brains. And the Hork-Bajir will yank them up out of the sludge, and they will start to feel that they cannot control their own arms or legs. Cannot open their own mouths or move their own eyes. The Yeerk will open their memories like a person opening a book. They will be slaves. The most total slaves in all of history because even their own minds won't be theirs anymore. Are you getting the picture?"

I had listened as well, feeling sick.

My parents had taken that walk, hadn't they?

Why was the room blurry?

Oh. I was crying. An arm was placed around me, "I'm sorry, Melissa," Rachel whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"My mom is one," Marco said flatly, knowing we were still listening. "She's a Controller."

"There's a lot to tell you guys," Jake said quietly. "But Marco's right. You need to know this isn't a game. This is life and death. This is the future of the whole human race. It's too late to help your parents." He looked as if he didn't want to say the next bit, but he did. "And as of now... David, you have no home and you can't go back to school. You do, they'll find you. And it'll be you taking that long walk down the steel pier."

I saw the expression in David's eyes darken further still. It's not every day someone tells you your life is over.

"This is stupid," David said. "I mean . . . it's not right. Can't be. This is all some kind of trick."

"You saw what went down at your house," Rachel said, still sitting next to me.

"That could have been guys dressed up in costumes," David argued.

"You saw Visser Three morph," Cassie said.

"What's a Kisser Three?"

"Visser Three. With a 'v,"' Jake said. "The one who looked like a deer with a scorpion tail. You saw him morph into that purple pile-driver monster."

David looked sullen. "It's all a trick." He looked at me. "You don't believe this, do you?"

I looked at him and back at my oldest friend.

Rachel said nothing. All she did was look at me.

"They're not lying," I said quietly before I turned to look at the others. "But... Jake, why did you specify David's life is over and not mine?"

"We didn't know it was you," He answered quietly. "Not until we got you into that alley and took off your hood. If we didn't know, as close as we were, the Yeerks didn't. But David we saw and we know for a fact the Yeerks did."

"Seriously?" David said. "This is a joke or something. It has to be. Melissa, you saw the same thing, it can't be real."

"Ax," Jake said sharply, reminding me of a military leader. "Demorph."

The rather pretty boy nodded his head. "I would be glad to. It is very disturbing being without my tail. Diss-ter-BING."

"David, watch Ax. Watch him closely." Jake looked at me and said, in a bit of a nicer tone, "I think you should watch too, Melissa, but thank you for trusting us without proof."

I blushed at that, but couldn't help but look over at the boy Jake had called Ax. And then... he began to change. Hooves began to grow on his feet. His arms became thinner and weaker. Extra fingers emerged on his hands. His lips were sealed together, and then faded to the color of the surrounding skin, and finally disappeared altogether. His front legs began to emerge, growing straight out of his chest.

"Aaaahhh! Aaaahhh!" David cried. He jumped back, stumbled, and started to run.

Lucky him. I was too busy wondering if I had really lost my mind and gaping.

Definitely a deer in the headlights moment for me.

Rachel had quickly gotten up and grabbed David. "It's okay, you'll get used to it," she said. She turned him around and pushed him back toward the hay bale I was sitting on.

There was a slight slurping sound as Ax's tail began to appear. Ax fell forward on all fours. The stalks grew from the top of his head and then - pop! pop! - eyes appeared on the ends of the stalks.

"See?" Jake said. "No trick. This is Aximili-Esgarrouth-lsthill. We call him 'Ax' for short. He's an Andalite. The Andalites are the good guys of the galaxy."

I was too busy staring at Ax to really notice anything else going on.

"Visser Three has an Andalite body. But he's a Yeerk underneath it all. He has just stolen and enslaved an Andalite."

David was shaking, I felt it. I took his hand and clutched it, tight. He didn't complain, opting to just return the favor.

Neither of us said anything. What could we say to all of this?

"There is one nice thing about all this," Cassie said. "There is a compensation for all the danger and all the fear."

We just looked at her. _Nice?_ What could be nice about learning my parents and now David's were slaves? That David hadn't even had time to begin a life in this town and it had been snatched away?

"You know the wild animals who were fighting the Yeerks today? You know the birds who tried to steal the blue box before that?" Marco said. "Us. That was us. See, Visser Three and Ax aren't the only ones who can morph. So can we. And now that we have this," He lifted up the blue box, "so can you."

"Any animal you can touch, you can become," Cassie said. "A dolphin, a skunk, a wolf."

"An elephant or a grizzly bear," Rachel said.

"A gorilla. A shark," Marco said.

"A tiger, a fly, a cockroach," Jake said. "Any animal. Any size. But only for two hours at a time. You can never stay in morph for more than two hours."

"Why?" David wondered aloud, but I was thinking it.

"Meet the final member of the Animorphs," Marco said. "Tobias."

A bird flapped down from the rafters of the barn. I blinked for a few seconds and said, curious, "You're the bird that was outside our homeroom this morning."

~Sorry about that,~Tobias answered. ~I thought it'd be a good idea to keep an eye on the kid with the morphing cube. It was how we learned about that e-mail that would have been sent out.~

"A bird," David said dully.

~A red-tailed hawk, to be precise.~

I just shook my head, wondering how on earth I would be able to deal with all of this. "I can't face my parents after this," I said quietly.

"Well, it's not a school night, they'll buy it."

"Yeah. I told my dad I was hanging with a friend. I didn't say which one." I looked at Rachel, "We'll say we were practicing a routine and came here so that Cassie could be our spotter."

"And me?" David inquired flatly.

I thought of an answer for that surprisingly quickly, "We can tell a little bit of the truth. You can be related to me or Rachel, and something happened to your family's house. Your parents didn't think it was fair to make you stay in a hotel with them while things get sorted out and our parents thought it'd be good for you to meet people your age."

"Even though you're all girls?" David said, but I could see him warming to the idea a little bit.

"Most teenage guys would jump at that," I said, giving him a teasing smile. We noticed everyone was looking at us. "... What?"

"That works," Rachel said slowly. "If our parents say yes."

The others left, while we went inside of Cassie's house. Her parents must have been surprised their daughter had brought three friends over but they accepted it with good grace, giving us dinner and just talking.

I hadn't really had that kind of meal, one with laughter and talking and people actually _caring_. It was after the dinner and after we finished our homework, even David. I made him do it.

"It doesn't make sense," he protested quietly. "What's the point? I can't go back to school."

"It's something normal," I said back. "I can bring you the stuff and tutor you. You're not stupid and neither am I. And one day... maybe one day things will be normal again. Do you really want to be some idiot because of this?"

He rolled his eyes but complied.

After that, Rachel called her mom and gave her the cover story I used. After a little lecture of unexpected plans, she was given the okay.

I called home.

"Hello?"

"Hey Mom," I said into the phone. "I'm at Cassie's house. Rachel's friend? I told Dad I'd be hanging out."

"Okay." Her voice was dull, flat.

"Is it okay if I stay over? It's just that it's getting a little late and everything."

"Sure sweetheart, have fun." The phone was hung up before I could say goodbye.

"It's not her," Rachel said quietly, making me look at her. "If that helps any, just remember, that's not really her."

"Yeah," I muttered. That might be true, but it still hurt. I had thought it was them for years and one night of the truth wouldn't change that. "Where are we sleeping?"


	4. Chapter 4

**4.**

We girls were in Cassie's room and David got the guest room. I couldn't really sleep even though Cassie and Rachel were both out when their heads touched the pillow.

It was about two a.m. and I was reading courtesy of the moonlight when our door opened a tiny bit, revealing David. He beckoned to me and, curious, I followed. We went downstairs and sat in the dining room.

"I want to call my mom and dad," he said quietly, but I could hear the fierceness in his voice.

I knew the others weren't lying. I just _knew_ it. But I understood David. He didn't _know_ any of them. How could he trust them? He barely knew me!

But I was still the closest thing he had to a friend. I thought for a few second and said, "We have Caller I.D. and people can trace phones. "

He nodded, understanding my point. "All right. A pay phone then."

We got dressed and crept back down the stairs and out of the house. It was chilly outside and damp. It took us a while, but we eventually found a phone.

"Wait," I said.

"What is it?" David gave me a look that was both exasperated and yet indulgent.

"I... I think that we might have to be more cautious than we thought. If they can be anyone, anywhere, if they take over your brain, they won't sound different. I know my parents don't. They'll lie and well, not like we can prove otherwise with all the resources..."

He looked stubborn, "So what? I say the bare minimum? Say 'hi,' and hang up?"

"... What would you want someone to say if you were a prisoner in your own body?" I asked, thinking.

That seemed to make his ego deflate a little bit before he slowly smiled, a dangerous one, and he quickly dialed the number.

"It's me." David's voice was dangerous. " No, don't talk. Don't lie to me, you slug. I just figured I'd tell you, you stupid Yeerk, that I'm going to fight. I'm going to be your worst nightmare. You'll wish I had never been born. Those Andalites will look like kittens compared to me. And Dad, I love you, I love you and Mom and I'll free you, I promise." With that, he slammed down the phone and I hugged him as he sobbed into my shoulder.

~I hate to interrupt, and I loved the speech, but in about two minutes a couple carloads of Yeerks are going to come screaming up looking for you. They'll trace the call.~ Marco's voice 'said.'

David wanted to protest, I could see that much, but I dragged him with me to a row of older buildings. The kind with deep, dark doorways. We slunk back into the shadows.

Marco was wrong. It didn't take two minutes.

Two Jeeps, windows darkened, came roaring down the street a minute and a half later. A long, sinister limousine was not far behind. People leaped from the Jeeps. No creatures this time.

"Cowards," David hissed, clenching his fists. "No creatures in the open."

Another car came squealing up. David's father and mother jumped out. They joined the others. His father began passing out photographs.

"My picture," he said quietly, sighing. "If they're like him, then that won't be good."

"What exactly does your dad do for a living?"

"He works for the National Security Agency. They got someone who can get them into different places."

David looked full of rage as we watched and listened.

His father and the two men came down the sidewalk straight for us. We could hear their footsteps. We could hear his father's voice.

"If we don't find that kid, Visser Three will make us wish we were dead," David's father said.

"Come on," David whispered to me, indicating that we should move.

~Stay where you are~ Jake's voice said.

"You're not my father," David hissed, ready to move anyway.

"Maybe he's got a plan," I suggested softly to David. "If we could turn the tables here, it'd become an ambush instead of a hunt. A trap."

Grudgingly he nodded.

I don't know what made me say it, but I said quietly, "They're not better than you. They've just done it longer. When we get experience..." I trailed off, because he was nodding.

We watched, trying hard to stay calm as his father and the other two came closer. "Jake, if they see us..." David hissed and I could see the promise of threats in his eyes.

And then...

PAH-LUMP, PAH-LUMP, PAH-LUMP, PAH-LUMP.

There came the sound of something running. Something large.

I stuck my head out of the shadows to watch. David did the same. The three Controllers heard the heavy galloping sound and turned.

There, running down the sidewalk, came a rhinoceros.

David's father and one of the men were bright enough to get out of the way. The third man was not.

WHUMPF!

Rhino horn hit human flesh and human flesh didn't do so well. The Controller flew up, over, cartwheeled once, and landed hard on the pavement.

David's father turned, drew his gun, and aimed for the rhino's retreating butt. Did he really think a pistol would hurt a rhino?

Then we saw the gorilla. It stepped out, wrapped a hand against the back of David's father's neck, and tossed him lightly against the wall.

David's father hit, bounced, and fell to the sidewalk with a sigh.

The other Controller took a long, gaping look at the gorilla and ran, yelling, "It's a trap!"

It was easier to return to Cassie's house after that. Both of them were awake now. "That was dangerous," Cassie said to both of us, looking back and forth. "What if they had seen you?"

"I had my hood on again," I said.

"And they already know me," David said quietly, his eyes blazing. "I'm already hunted."

"And you're not caught," Rachel said. "Keep acting stupid like that and you might be."

"I had to do it," David said, glaring at them. "Never mind, you wouldn't understand."

Their looks turned from irritated to ones of pity as David went back upstairs and went to sleep. "I think we should do the same," I suggested, yawning.

"Good idea," Rachel said as Cassie nodded in agreement.

The next morning we assembled in the woods because Cassie's dad was working in the barn. Even though it was still chilly out and the sky was filled with clouds, we were tramping along, clutching our sweatshirts and jackets closed. Cassie, Jake, Rachel, and Marco each had a pole-end of two cages. David and I walked behind them, both a bit nervous. Tobias and Ax were in the woods.

In the cages were two big birds of prey: a merlin and a golden eagle.

The merlin was about a quarter of the size of the eagle. The eagle was one big bird. If I remembered correctly, both birds had been patients of Cassie and her dad. Both were going to be released.

Tobias came swooping down, seemingly out of the clouds. He landed with easy precision on a small log.

~What are you doing with that?~ he demanded, glaring at the eagle.

"Relax, relax, Tobias," Cassie said, setting down the cage.

~You're not releasing him near my territory,~ he said flatly.

"Tobias, this bird has only been at the center for a couple of days. He has a well-established territory well back in the mountains. You know golden eagles don't like roosting in trees if they can find a nice cliff. So he won't be hanging around. But we can't get him any closer to his territory, really, because the road back up there washed out."

Tobias stared fiercely at her. Or maybe it just looked that way because it was a hawk's face. He switched his gaze to David and me, then to Jake. It was a clear, unspoken question.

"They're here to get their first morph," Jake answered. "I was thinking the merlin."

"Which one's the merlin?" David asked.

"The smaller bird," Cassie said. "They're very fast, very agile," she added helpfully.

"Faster than the big one?" David asked, giving her a look.

~You don't want to be a golden eagle,~ Tobias said. ~They're jerks. They go after other birds. Not to mention anything from a rabbit to a small deer. And I'm not kidding about the deer. I saw a golden eagle take down a young doe. Sank those talons right into the back of her head, boom, she went down like she'd been shot.~

"I want to do the eagle," David said.

A moment's hesitation. "Any special reason?" Jake asked.

I looked at him. It wasn't obvious? "Firepower, Jake," I said quietly. "I'll take the merlin, though." I slowly smiled at Rachel, "I mean, if you're big and bulky even in the air..."

"Hey!" She protested. "It's not my fault you're better at gymnastics!"

The others rolled their eyes and Jake shook his head, but I could tell he was a little amused. I continued, "But if Rachel's morph is the only big bird, that means she's always doing the heavy lifting. You're looking at the problems, which is understandable, but also remember that means someone else to do more damage and more lifting."

Jake still didn't look too pleased about it, but he nodded and looked at Tobias. "Where's Ax?"

~Can't you hear him? You people are so deaf. He's galloping, should appear right about. . . there.~

Ax sprang lightly into view. ~l am sorry to be late,~ he said. ~l had to go out of my way to avoid some human campers. Are we going ahead with the Escafil Device?~

Jake hesitated for a split second before saying, "Yes."

Rachel had been carrying the blue box in a waist pouch. She unzipped the pouch, popped out the box, and tossed it to Ax. Ax missed the catch, but before the box could hit the ground, Ax whipped his tail forward, turned the blade flat, and caught the box. "Whoa," I said. That was _fast._

He raised the box to his hands. ~Press your hand on the square nearest to you,~ Ax said to us.

"Wait! Shouldn't there be some kind of ceremony or something?" Cassie said.

"Like what?" Marco asked. "You want us all to join hands and sing The Star-Spangled Banner'?"

"No, I don't know all the words," Cassie said. With a sly grin she added, "We could sing 'MMM-Bop.'"

We all laughed at that.

Ax held out the cube in one hand. David and I shared looks; I mean, Ax _was_ an alien. We slowly stepped forward. A tingle ran through me.

"It tingles," David said as I nodded in agreement.

Marco stepped up to David and stuck out his hand. To my surprise, David took it. "Welcome to the Animorphs, new boy." Marco smiled at me and took my hand too, "You too, Melissa."

Everyone shook our hands and then Cassie cracked open the cage of the golden eagle.

"You just put your hand in very slowly," she instructed us.

David's shaking hand moved toward the eagle, while mine went to the merlin.

"Now press your palm against the bird's shoulder."

The eagle gave David a dirty look, but then ignored him. The merlin nipped at my fingers and I almost ran away shouting but forced myself to stay. Rachel would never let me live it down if a bird made me run away.

"Focus your mind. See the birds in your imagination. Think about them, what they are, what they represent."

I shut my eyes to focus better.

"Now take your hand away," Cassie said softly. "You now have the birds inside you. Their DNA is in your blood. You can become them."

David grinned. "When do we do it?"

I was glad _he_ was excited. I was nervous.

"Soon," Jake said. "We also have to get you a morph with some teeth. Cassie? Take them to the zoo. With your access he should be able to get in and out without being spotted, but the rest of us will fly cover. Let them have whatever morph they want. But also get them a bug or two in case they have to get small. We want to be ready," he said, switching back to us. "We have a little . . . situation. A mission."

"Nothing to worry about, though," Marco said. "Just the usual: Save the world from the alien invaders. You'll get used to it."

"Shouldn't we take time to prepare or something?" I asked, curious. "If this is really an invasion and everything, do you really want two rookies involved in your mission?"

"It would be nice to prepare both of you," Jake agreed, but he looked sad. "Unfortunately, there just isn't any time."

David and I shared looks, but before we could ask any questions about why, Cassie spoke, "A summit meeting right here in town, where the Yeerk invasion is the strongest. The presidents or prime ministers of Britain, France, Russia, Japan, Germany, and the United States are all coming here to figure out what to do about all the problems in the Middle East. It's the ultimate target, the leaders of six powerful nations all in one place at one time."

"And one's a Controller," Marco said, looking tired.

"Let's go then," David said. His eyes glittered dangerously. "Us to the zoo, you guys to learn as much as you can about the summit area."

Marco and Jake shared mild glares and I bit back a smile. Boys and their egos. "Rachel, are you coming with us?"

"Jake can't look up the summit meeting, too risky," she said. "I'll do that."

"Marco and I are going to hang out to make today look normal," Jake said, making Marco nod. "Probably playing games or shooting hoops. Then we'll just tell my parents we're going to the mall or for a walk."

~I'll go with you guys~ Tobias said, looking at David, Cassie and me. ~Animorphs air force.~

So we went with Cassie's mother and Cassie to The Gardens. That's this huge amusement park that also has a zoo-or I guess they call it a wildlife park. Apparently her mother was a vet there.

Again: everyone else had cool parents. Me, I get the vice-principal that's imprisoned by an alien slug.

Life was so not fair.


	5. Chapter 5

**5.**

It was surprisingly easy to get different morphs. Nobody even bothered Cassie and well, David and I didn't exactly want to draw attention to ourselves.

David obviously wanted morphs with firepower. He had gone for a lion. I actually would have pitied the Yeerks if they hadn't, you know, started the whole mess.

I, on the other hand, thought Jake had a point when he mentioned smaller, more agile morphs, so I went with a fox. We also, when I suggested a heavy morph, both got rhinos.

Cassie also had us acquire a _roach._ Ugh. After that, we returned to the barn. David was pacing, obviously eager to practice something, while I sat on a bale of hay and thought about how my life had just turned upside down in under a day.

The others soon drifted in and eventually all eight of us were in the barn.

"I have the brochure," Rachel announced. "I downloaded it off the Internet."

She held out some color printer pages showing the Marriott resort. There were photographs of rooms. Pictures of giddy, happy people in bathing suits, a shot of a big buffet table maybe fifty feet long and loaded with food, and a map of the resort. The map showed a big, main hotel building that was twenty stories high. And down, closer to the beach, a jumble of smaller "cottages." Ten cottages in all.

"They'll be in the cottages," Marco said instantly. "The leaders, I mean. They'll dump all their people in the main hotel building."

"Sounds right," Jake agreed.

"They'll have security so tight no one will be able to burp without nine guys in sunglasses running over with their Uzis cocked and ready," Marco continued, counting off on his fingers. "French security, German security, Japanese security -"

"Ninjas?" David asked.

"Yeah, Jackie Chan himself," Marco said, rolling his eyes.

"He's Chinese, not Japanese," David said, rolling his eyes back.

"British security," Marco continued, adding quickly, "and no one say, 'Bond, James Bond,' please. Russian security and American secret service, FBI, and local cops."

Jake sighed and shook his head.

"Now just to make things really fun," Marco said, "there are the Yeerks. How many of the hotel's maids and waiters and pool boys are Controllers? Don't know. How many of the Russian, German, British, French, Japanese, and U.S. security guys are also Controllers? Don't know. All we know is that one of these presidents or prime ministers is a Controller."

"At least one," Cassie said. "Sorry to interrupt, but it's kind of important. Erek said one of them was a Controller. He didn't say for sure that the other five were not."

We all just gaped at Cassie.

"Can I say something?" David asked.

"Sure," Rachel said darkly. "As long as it isn't more bad news."

"It kind of is. My dad is part of the National Security Agency. What they do is electronic surveillance. You know, like bugging phones and watching people from satellites in orbit? Well, it just seems to me the Yeerks can do all those things plus a lot more. So probably the entire Marriott resort is being watched by the Yeerks."

"I'm pretty sure I said, 'No more bad news,'" Rachel grumbled. "Oh, man."

I thought for a few seconds, back to David's house. Back to the things we saw there. "Wait. There is some good news."

Everyone stared at me. "Good news?" Jake inquired, looking a bit skeptical.

"You all said it. The entire resort will have tight security, all of that. We're there to stop them from being Controllers, right? That means all those things we saw at David's house, they can't bring them there. They can only bring other people. So any Controllers will have to be human ones," I said. "They can't bring those other creatures. And our morphs can take out humans."

"You're right," Rachel said, slowly grinning and losing some of the worry that had been on her face.

"But," I cautioned, "it's obvious the aliens have technology. I would worry more about something like... I don't know, a dog whistle's big brother but for animals. The Yeerks aren't stupid obviously, they'll realize that there are animals like dogs and birds at the beach, I don't think they'll just ignore them."

Marco nodded, looking grave, "Yeah. We'll have to keep an eye out for that."

"Okay," Jake said. "This should be a nice, safe, easy trip down the coast. We're just spying the situation out. You'll need your bird morphs."

"I'll go first," David said.

Oh man. Talk about creepy. Morphing was disgusting to watch. And even I was scared when David went for Tobias, who freaked out, yelling about birds that were jerks.

"Okay, Melissa," Cassie said, once David had calmed down. "It's okay."

Nervous, I focused on the kestrel from earlier. It was definitely weird, but not as bad as David's morph. I shrunk first, still fully human. Rachel giggled at that earning a glare from me that intensified as my eyes transformed and I was covered in feathers, then the wings and feet formed.

It was pretty cool and weird, like someone else was in my head. But soon, everyone else morphed and we were off.

Flying was _awesome._ David kept shouting about it and I couldn't help but sometimes join in, but I tried to keep my excitement down to a minimum because the others were thinking.

~Yeerk stealth technology!~ Marco suddenly freaked, when I noticed weird shimmering behind the helicopter that Tobias had said was called Marine One.

Something happened though... the others were trying to get on what they called a 'Blade ship.'

And I crashed into it, trying to make it in.

~Melissa!~ Rachel yelped.

~Ow... I'm... I'm all right~ I managed, groaning. ~The others are inside. I...~

~It's okay~ Tobias said. ~Rachel and I couldn't either.~

~So what now?~ I asked, confused and worried.

~We wait for them~ Rachel said confidently.

She was right. I grabbed two roaches that were falling and Rachel confirmed it was them. We flew behind the dunes and I blushed madly, but Tobias brought a swimsuit for me and swim trunks for David.

~Remind me we have to return those to the Kahuna Beach Shop,~ Tobias said.

"You stole them?" Cassie asked.

~No, I borrowed them. Besides, I'm a bird. Birds are not capable of stealing. What are they going to do, arrest me?~

"We'll find a way to get the money to the store," Jake said. "We don't want to even start down that path. In an emergency like this, maybe we can grab something. But we have to make it right later. That's the rule."

We had just finished dressing when the others turned and David said, "You know, it would be amazing."

Jake looked at him, "What?"

He shrugged. "Us, with our powers? We could take anything we wanted. We could like morph into cheetahs or whatever, run into some jewelry store, grab the diamonds, and get away at sixty miles an hour. What could anyone do? We'd be outta there. Plus, we'd morph back to humans."

"Let's do that," Marco said dryly. "Right after we figure out how to keep the Yeerks from turning the most powerful leaders in the world into alien-infested zombies. As soon as we're done with that, we start ripping off jewelry stores."

"Hey, I was just kidding," David said. "I guess I forgot you're the only one allowed to make jokes, Marco."

There was tension there, it was obvious. But Marco had been here a lot longer than either of us. Odds were no matter what, his side would be right to the others.

"It would be nice to do anything," I admitted before anyone could speak. "But I'd... I guess I wouldn't feel right. Sure we'd be able to do whatever, but our folks are still there, trapped. Even if we die trying to free them..." I trailed off because David had put an arm over my shoulder.

"Well," he said simply, ignoring the others. "When this is over, all the way, we'll be able to get on any airplane for free. We can take a long vacation when everything is said and done. I mean, saving the world leaders, the least they can do is let us in their country."

"Go to London and see Big Ben?" I said, smiling.

"London, Paris," David said, "_Bonjour, __mon nom est David. Comment êtes-vous?"_ He smirked as the others blinked. "I know a little French, my dad..." He trailed off and shook his head before giving them a look. "Thought you said this was a mission."

Jake nodded, "You're right, it's time to get serious. They caught us by surprise. Maybe they know that was us scurrying around up there, maybe they don't. But one way or the other, we have to get inside that resort and get busy."

"We have to get past the greatest security in the world just to get into that place," Rachel said. "We have to go by air. But we can't use bird-of-prey morphs. That'd be slightly noticeable."

"No problem," Cassie said. "It's the beach. There's one kind of bird no one can keep off the beach. Seagulls."

"Yeah, well, we don't have seagull morphs," David pointed out.

I nodded and brightened, "Maybe Tobias could catch a seagull for us?"

Jake seemed to give me another mild look while Rachel grinned and he nodded. "Tobias?" He yelled up. "Sorry to keep sending you out for things, but can you get a seagull?"

"Alive?" Cassie added.

~Can I grab a gull? Puh-leeze. Can Michael Jordan hit a three-pointer? They're just rats with wings.~

"I always thought those were pigeons," I said, looking over the ocean. It was very beautiful. Just a shame we couldn't even enjoy it.

"Could be worse," David murmured, rubbing my shoulder. "Could be some place cold."

Rachel nodded, "We've had our share of weird places."

It felt weird, being the new person when I had known these people most of my life. Well... I had thought I had known my parents too.

How much of it had been lies? Saving the world in secret... no wonder I didn't see Rachel as much any more. No wonder she seemed distant. My parents, hosts to alien slugs...

The hand on my shoulder tightened. "Don't fall apart," David's voice murmured quietly in my ear.

Soon, Tobias brought back a gull and we were flying... but there was someone there, someone able to knock out birds with what Ax had said was probably a low-powered Dracon beam.

It had hurt very much when I had been hit, and it was obvious every inch of this place was covered.

"Let's go home," Jake said after we left, looking tired.

They all went home, but I decided to stick with David for a bit. He had gone to Cassie's barn, she made a place in the hayloft for him.

It irritated me. Like he was an animal...

He was irritated too, muttering about sneaking into a hotel.

I thought about it and shook my head, making him look at me.

"Why not?" He inquired, looking at me.

"Because even though animals can't be charged with crimes, any of the workers can be Yeerks," I said, making him think. "There might be security cameras too. If footage gets out..."

"But then people would know about the Yeerks."

"While their world leaders are here," I pointed out. "Think it's a hoax... but Yeerks will know that one human can morph."

"They know who I am." David paused and sighed, "Oh. Oh crap. They don't know who _you_ are though. If they think you're the one with me..." He shook his head.

It was obvious. He didn't have to say much more. If he was caught, that'd be it. End game. Even now it was risky. My father didn't know I had been the one there. Rachel had covered for me, Rachel and Cassie.

Even if David and I died, they would be the next targets. Rachel would fight, but it would be a simple leap. Her, her cousin, his best friend...

"A hotel sounds decent," I muttered. "But you don't need attention drawn to you either."

He sighed and nodded, obviously not liking it.

"But they said Ax has a place in the woods. Maybe we can do something like that for you." I gave a grin, "If they're all experts at things, you'll have to become the expert woodsman."

He began to chuckle. "I don't have a tent."

"I do. My parents used to take me camping when I was younger. The stuff's all in the attic, hasn't been used in... well, years," I admitted, wondering if the reason our family outings had really stopped was because of finances... or because my parents had become Controllers.

It didn't matter. It would help David now.

"I'll ask Rachel to help me with the stuff," I said, standing. "Maybe bring it tomorrow after school?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Just wish I could watch some TV or something."

"TV rots the mind," I teased. "I'll bring you some books and stuff. It's horrible and I know they keep thinking about the big picture, but..."

"Yeah, I get it," David said, rolling his eyes. "I'll tough it out. You have a good night."

I smiled, "You too."

The others skipped school the next day. I couldn't, of course. I finished school, got home and managed to drag our old camping stuff from the attic.

Rachel did come and help me, Cassie too, the three of us talking about camping and just leaving the stuff at Cassie's place since it was closest to the woods. My father had pulled up just as we were leaving.

"Where are you three going?" He asked, looking puzzled.

"We were talking about camping this weekend," I said. "But figured it'd be easier to just bring the stuff closer to the site, we weren't sure if we'd be able to get a ride."

"Come along then," My Dad said, shaking his head. "You teenagers... Ah, Rachel, I'm sorry to hear about your cousin."

"My cousin?" Rachel inquired.

"Your cousin... Saddler, I believe? Tom told me last night at our meeting, about how he had been hurt by a car."

Rachel looked a bit sad and soon we were near Cassie's. We left my father in the car, me nodding when he said to call when I needed to get home.

He had a meeting tonight. I wasn't going to call him.

Earlier, Rachel had asked Tobias to find an okay site for David, near a little bit of water but far enough from people to not draw attention. He had managed this perfectly. Soon, David, Cassie, Rachel, and I were all setting up the different equipment. I even had managed to bring the hand-crank generator, and Rachel had found one of those small televisions. Wasn't great reception, but Tobias mentioned something about Ax probably being able to fix that. I had gotten some books for him too and so he had a nice little campsite.

It wasn't a home, but it would have to do for a fair bit.

We made it back to the barn before too long and began making plans for the banquet.

But something nagged at me as they told me everything they had seen that day.

"Melissa?" Cassie asked, making me look up. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know the limitations of alien technology," I said slowly. "But if they managed to get one hologram... they're covering that pool. Obviously in a limited range, they're capable of different things. A hologram in a hologram. And you want to convince these people aliens are real. I think this Visser would have thought of that already. I think he's willing to try to be just as sneaky."

David nodded, understanding my point while they just stared at me. "Hologram in a hologram makes sense. Probably a bunch of them because they don't know the limitation of earth animals various sense of sight and the like. They probably know for sure we were the roaches. That case, this wouldn't work and probably would just result in another failure."

"What do you -" Marco began before he paused. Maybe the words sunk in because he was looking at me.

So was Jake. "You think so? Honestly? That our planning this won't work?"

"I think you're trying to be stealthy in a situation where it's impossible," I confirmed.

"So then what, we give up and let the Yeerks win?" Rachel demanded hotly.

David rolled his eyes. I mentally agreed and he spoke, "So when you can't be stealthy..."

"Then you'll just have to abandon stealth," I finished, grinning at their confused faces.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

I was glad David had gotten the idea, because when we outlined the plan for the others it was pathetically simple. The bungalows housed the world leaders. If we couldn't stop the Yeerks by subtle means, then just tear the place apart. Things would probably be cancelled after that, if not for any other reason than for rebuilding.

Rachel's eyes lit up at the idea and she hugged me. Marco groaned and Jake was slowly nodding. It worked pretty well and he figured the sooner, the better.

You almost had to feel sorry for the Secret Service and all the other security guys on the beach, huddling in the rain beneath their ponchos while they gazed through night-vision goggles. One minute it's nothing but waves and lightning. The next minute it looks like a small pod of whales has decided to get up out of the ocean and go hang out on the beach.

Their training must have prepared them for almost anything. But not, definitely not for the possibility that four rhinos and four African elephants would come trumpeting and snorting out of a one-hundred-year-storm surf.

David and I were laughing as we destroyed the bungalows.

~So this is what being an Animorph is?~ He asked, making me giggle as the rain poured down and we moved around the complete and utter chaos.

Spotlights were shining down from the top of the hotel, sweeping madly here and there. There was the poplpoplpop! of gunfire. There were men in dark suits racing back and forth, guns drawn. There were guys in tuxedos and women in formal gowns running and tripping and yelling. I heard helicopters chopping the air overhead.

And through it all galumphed elephants and rhinoceroses, banging into anything we could bang into.

The thunder was rattling windows. The rain was turning everything to mud. And every few seconds, the lightning would flash and I'd see the entire madhouse scene frozen by the strobe light.

It would have been funny. If people weren't shooting at us.

We ran for the water's edge, bullets whizzing after us, and plowed into the surf. I began demorphing instantly, even as I continued to motor out against the waves.

I was giddy. I was going to survive! I was laughing, laughing at the sheer, insane rush of it all. No weariness now, just mad, frantic glee at having escaped alive.

~How will they ever, ever explain that?~ Tobias wondered.

~l don't know,~ Rachel said, obviously just as giddy as me, ~but that's one summit meeting no one will forget.~

We just laughed. Survival was an awesome, amazing feeling. We made it back home, and I noticed that my house was empty.

Yeerks made lousy parents, I decided. I collapsed into bed and slept hard until a voice said, "Melissa!"

"Huh? Whazzit?" I moaned.

"Oh my God, I don't believe this. Were you up late?" My father demanded.

Oh. Right.

"Couldn't sleep..." I wasn't lying, not really.

"I don't believe how irresponsible you are!" He ranted. "Get up this instant!"

As my father... well, the Yeerk in him... lectured me, I got ready for the day and, yawning, collapsed into the car and slept on the ride to school.

In the middle of Chemistry, I was dozing off, not even finishing my test. Oh man, this wasn't good. No wonder Rachel's grades had dropped a little.

The test paper seemed to waver in front of me. Intermolecular force... I knew this... but I was so tired.

~The answer's D.~

I almost jumped at David's voice. I glanced out the window and could barely make out the golden eagle in the tree. ~Took a look at the teacher's paper. Figured I could help you a little since I got to sleep in.~

I smiled, unable to help it, and finished the test rather easily. I didn't like the idea of cheating, but I was just so tired... when I finished the test, I slept for the rest of the period after turning it in.

The next few days were quiet ones. I would visit David and we'd talk. He said Ax and Tobias spent time with him and at least he got to sleep in. I'd bring him food sometimes, stuff I usually cooked.

My parents had never encouraged the cooking. I had always been confused. I thought it was okay, but it was as if they'd find any excuse to not be near me.

David had quickly said that I was great at cooking and practically inhaled his first dish, making me giggle.

I had learned after the first time Ax had come with us to always cook a _ton _extra because he could _eat_ when he was in human form. Tobias sometimes would eat with us. David mumbled that he was having trouble hunting because another hawk was coming onto his territory but that was all he knew.

But there were no missions, things were almost... normal. Except they weren't, it felt so weird, being so jumpy and paranoid.

It was weird, but the fact that my parents didn't really pay attention to me turned out to be in my favor. They did everything to ignore me. When I asked if I could drop gymnastics, my father didn't protest or ask why. When I suggested going on my own to and from school so that I 'could be ready for college,' they didn't care.

Before I would have cried. But now I was just relieved. Ax and Tobias had always been staking out known Controllers. Now with David, they could plot and sometimes even act, attacking smaller sites.

Things were fine until my father approached Rachel and me in the library after school one day to ask me a question.

"Melissa, have you seen Tobias?"

Oh crap.


	7. Chapter 7

"Tobias?" I asked, making sure I didn't sound worried or anything. I hoped I sounded puzzled.

I think I did, because my father nodded and babbled a bit about Tobias, how he hadn't been at school, how his aunt thought his uncle had him, his uncle thought his aunt did...

"And so now his cousin, Aria, after hearing about all of this from his father's lawyer, Mr. Degroot, wants to help Tobias, take him in. She's coming all the way from Africa for this. Isn't that sweet?"

"Yeah," I said. "That's really nice of her." _Trap!_ My mind was screaming it and a glance at Rachel showed hers was too. "Sorry Dad, but... I don't know," I said. Rachel shrugged when he glanced her way.

He rolled his eyes and left, muttering, "I should have known you'd be useless."

I looked at my paper, trying hard to not let the words affect me. I didn't want to cry in the middle of the library. Rachel was too preoccupied worrying about Tobias to notice, and honestly, I was a little glad.

I hated this. I hated it. I don't know what was worse, thinking my parents hated me and had changed or knowing they were slaves and some alien enjoyed doing this to me. Why did it hate me so much? I didn't do anything to it! I just didn't know why an alien would hate me so much that it'd make my father say such things to me.

The school day passed pretty quick after that, since we were all distracted with the thought of a trap. When I brought David his dinner that night, it was just us and I told him.

"It's a trap," he said immediately. "But if nobody's able to find Tobias, that'd be worse, wouldn't it?"

I nodded, "Cause they'll keep looking for him."

"I'll bet you we'll have to check out this lawyer guy," David said, thinking. "At least they can't use our families like that. We already know their fates." He looked furious but calmer too, saying that. I couldn't help but nod. He was right. I hated the Yeerks, I really did, and I know they wanted to just keep making me cry, but at least I _knew_.

"And this is really good," David said, holding up some of the salisbury steak. "Thanks, for... all this. I really appreciate it."

I blushed and just shrugged, "We're friends. If we don't help each other, we're doomed, right?"

He just nodded. "You'd better get going."

"Thanks." I stood up and blushed more when he hugged me, but I couldn't help smiling even as I got inside my house. My parents weren't home, but was it really surprising? Especially with this going on, they were probably looking for Tobias.

We checked out the place the next day. The lawyer's office didn't look like much. It was in one of those strip malls with a convenience store at one end and a State Farm Insurance office on the other end.

It didn't look like a place to lay a trap. But that's the thing about traps: If they looked like traps, they wouldn't be very effective, right?

Rachel and I were in the laundromat, Tobias's first backup. If he yelled, we would go to the bathroom and Rachel would go through the wall to help him. I actually had clothes to wash, so it was fine. While I washed clothes, I was doing some English homework. Rachel was attempting to do some work too but we both knew she wasn't focusing on it.

David was doing Tobias's usual job: watching from the sky, keeping everyone informed the best he could. And something must have happened in the meeting because Tobias didn't return to the barn.

"He just needs time," Cassie explained to us when we asked. "Just... give him some time to come to grips with things."

"Why?" David inquired, shrugging. "Family wants him, so what?"

The others gave him a dirty look and Jake answered, "Yes, unless they just want to learn his secrets, learn why he's not with his family, learn about us and kill us."

Well... that was a bit of a downer.

"He'll be okay by tomorrow," Cassie said. "Come on, let's get some rest."

We all nodded and left the barn. My house was empty when I walked in and I sighed.

It was pretty obvious to me that Tobias wasn't the only one without a real family. Shrugging, I went to my room and managed to get through school the next day. I got held up a bit after school though, forced to tutor some guy on the soccer team. After that, I made my way to Cassie's barn only to hear Marco ranting.

"When do we get a vacation? I mean, Ben-Hur rowing that Roman galley while the guy whipped him and the other guy banged on that big drum got more downtime than we do. Our lives have become Nintendo games," Marco complained loudly, hitting a pile of hay with his hand. "We're always walking down some dark hallway with our blasters drawn and there's an endless array of enemy guys. We blow 'em up, but they keep coming. When do we get to hit the pause button? When do we get to switch over to a nice, peaceful Riven? When do we get to turn off the power and put down the joystick and just veg out with some HBO? When do -"

"When do we get to shut you up?" Rachel interrupted. "When do we get to switch you off? I mean, good grief, Marco, you act like you have something better to do. Before we became Animorphs your entire day consisted of figuring out which girl to annoy next."

Marco grinned. "And now I always know which girl to annoy next." He put his arm around Rachel and laid his head on her shoulder.

She laughed and shoved him away.

"Ooookay," I said slowly, shaking my head.

"Hey Melissa," Jake said. "As you can tell by Marco's complaining, we have a lot happening at once. And we can't blow off any of it. We need to find out if DeGroot is for real or a Controller. We need to find out the same about this possible cousin Aria. And we need to try and find this little, lost Hork-Bajir. Twenty-four hours plus last night, plus this morning while we were in school. Coming up on forty-eight hours he's been missing."

"I hate to think of what could be happening to him," Cassie said.

Jake nodded. But Marco said, "No, wait. You should try and think of what's happening to him. What are the possibilities?"

~I assume that any human would recognize this Hork-Bajir child as an alien,~ Ax stated.

"No. Not necessarily," Cassie said.

"Most people don't believe you aliens exist," Rachel said.

Ax nodded, ~Then what might a human think this creature is?~

"Deformed," Cassie speculated. "Affected by birth defects. Or seriously sick."

~The average, fairly decent human would think of taking it to a hospital,~ Tobias said.

"Or calling an ambulance," Cassie added.

"The average not-so-decent human might decide to shoot it," David said, thoughtfully.

"Or stick it in a cage and charge people to take a look," I said, making Jake nod in agreement.

"Yeah. Okay. Marco? Get on the Internet and look for any news reports or whatever. Ax? You help him. Cassie and I will go back to the valley entrance, morph wolves, and see if we can pick up Bek's scent. Rachel, you're with Tobias. Figure out if this Aria woman is a Controller. David, Melissa, you guys do the same thing with DeGroot. Follow them. Watch them. How long do we have till your birthday, Tobias?"

I looked over at David, who nodded, while Tobias danced around the question until everyone realized he really didn't remember when his birthday was.

Oh boy. We really were going to have our hands full and we didn't even have a real timeline.


End file.
